


a new friend, alright

by panlesters



Series: this lovely world, these precious days [1]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Forever Home, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, The dog fic, dan being a pushover, what! they! deserve!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:29:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25245421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panlesters/pseuds/panlesters
Summary: Maybe if Louise hadn't sent him that ad from Battersea dog shelter, he wouldn't be sat here getting emotional on the tube, alone. But it'll all be worth it to see Phil's face.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Series: this lovely world, these precious days [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828915
Comments: 22
Kudos: 80





	a new friend, alright

**Author's Note:**

> ok this has been on the back burner for 6 months until i suddenly remembered it this morning and rewrote the whole thing i forgot how much i missed it   
> it was a while ago but shoutout to claudia for letting me rant abt this when i was first writing it ily   
> enjoy!
> 
> title of this fic and also the series comes from charlotte's web, which is relevant i promise

Getting a dog is one of the goals for this new house. It’s big, and feels a little lifeless without that energy. They’ve planning it since they first put the deposit down, and dog-proofing the house was the first step. They had to be ready at all times, Phil had said. If you build it they will come, and all that. Dan had agreed wholeheartedly, and days off were spent walking round their big garden and making sure the fencing was secure, and planning which rooms would need to have baby gates in the doorways. Phil’s filming room and their office, both full of loose cables and wires that could easily be chewed up by little teeth, would be out of bounds. Dan even bought some plug socket covers one day, and when Phil made a joke that their dog probably wouldn’t be sticking any forks in any sockets any time soon, Dan had reluctantly murmured that dog proofing is only one step away from child proofing, and he was maybe jumping the gun a little, but he liked the idea of their house being welcome to more than one new arrival, whenever the need should arise. Phil had opened his arms in the middle of their hallway and wrapped Dan up in them. No words had passed between them, but none needed to. One by one, their dreams have begun coming true, and it was overwhelming and terrifying and neither of them would have it any other way.

He needs to stop thinking about that moment right now, when he’s in public. He’s so on edge right now, getting too emotional might make him cry. He’s not going to be that weird person who cries on the tube. Not this time. He’s got time to be emotional later.

Keeping this a secret from Phil is the hardest thing he’s ever done. He knows they’re ready for a dog. They’ve felt ready for a long time, but now they’re really in a position where it’s really on the cards. They’re homeowners, they have a massive garden and they’re out of the intense bustle of central London, surrounded by big parks and open spaces. It couldn’t be more perfect.

Louise had sent him the link. There was a little of corgi puppies that had come into Battersea dogs home, and he really, _really_ couldn’t let that opportunity go to waste. With Phil desperate for a puppy and Dan insistent that they adopt a rescue dog, this was the perfect scenario. He’s not sure what he did to appease the dog gods, but he wasn’t going to let this pass him by. 

If Phil hadn’t been out at the time Dan knows it wouldn’t have been a secret at all. But Phil hadn’t come home for a few hours afterwards; long enough for Dan to convince himself, with a little help from Louise, that it would be the perfect surprise. He reserves a puppy immediately and spends the next week slowly acquiring everything they might need. The empty wardrobe in the DINOF room begins to fill with dog essentials. Dan orders teddies and blankets, sneaks out while Phil is working to pick up a bed, food, and bowls. When the day rolls around for Dan to go and pick up their puppy, the room smells strongly of dog food, and he’s really not sure how Phil hasn’t become suspicious. He really must be nose deaf, after all.

Dan makes sure to leave a few essentials for Phil to buy; it is _their_ dog, after all, and he deserves to take part in some of the buying of things. He only buys a couple of toys, and a basic collar and leash. He wants Phil to be around when they pick the nice things. 

Phil is out at the IRL office the day Dan goes to pick up the puppy. He’s sent Dan a load of merch ideas, and a few photos of Martyn hunched over the computer with a head in his hands. _He can’t cope with my galaxy brain ideas,_ Phil texts. Dan’s hands are shaking as he types out a reply, _don’t kill him please i have some merch i want to go through with him._ The joking helps to calm his nerves, but he almost regrets not telling Phil about all this as he gets off the tube and begins the walk to Battersea. He misses the comforting presence next to him, wants to knock his shoulder into Phil’s when it all begins to get overwhelming. He knows Phil’s face is going to be worth it all, though.

He’s shaking as he walks into the reception, giving them his name and being taken out to the kennels by a bubbly young woman to find his puppy. When they reach the cage, there’s only two left, and Dan’s heart aches a little to take their new little one away from his sibling. If it wasn’t reserved already he thinks he’d take them both in a heartbeat.

“Do you have a name for him?” the woman asks as she gently lifts the puppy out and places him in Dan’s waiting arms. He’s silent for a second while he lets the puppy settle.

“Not yet,” he says quietly. If he raises his voice too much, he’s going to cry. “I’m waiting for my fiancé to help me choose.” He’s not really sure when he transitioned from referring to Phil as ‘my friend’ to ‘my fiancé’ around strangers, but he finds that the word fits so well in his mouth and makes his stomach churn with gleeful butterflies every time he says it, and so it’s stuck.

“Oh, that’s so sweet!” she gushes. “It’s a shame they couldn’t be here today.”

Dan feels a gentle swoop at the neutral pronoun and feels his emotions begin to get the better of him.

“Oh, he doesn’t have a clue,” Dan grins, bottom lip quivering slightly. “This is a surprise.”

The woman’s face lights up even more.

“Oh, that’s exciting! Is it his birthday?”

“Nah,” Dan shrugs. He trusts himself to get a little louder, even though his voice is really shaking now. “This was pretty spontaneous, actually.” His voice trails off as he stares back down at the puppy in his arms, cradled like a baby.

“Aw, well you’re gonna be very happy dog dads.”

Dan lets out a watery laugh and holds the puppy a little closer to his chest as he moves a hand to wipe away a stray tear.

He calls a taxi for the journey home. It’s expensive, but taking this little one on the tube would be a nightmare, and he wants it to be as stressless as possible.

Phil’s already home when he gets in, so he shouts a hello.

“I have something to tell you but you gotta wait,” he calls. “Stay upstairs a bit.” Phil shouts down a noise of acknowledgement, and Dan gets himself into the DINOF room as quickly as he can, setting up his camera. He’s not even sure if he will upload this yet, but he knows this is footage he’s going to want to keep around for a long time. He pulls two chairs into shot and drapes a blanket over the side of his chair as inconspicuously as he can to hide the puppy, silently willing him to stay quiet and still.

The camera’s rolling when he shouts for Phil.

“Hey, you can come down now!”

He hears Phil’s feet thudding down the stairs before he sticks his head round the door.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, come sit.”

“Oh, you’re filming?” Phil asks with a frown. Dan grins.

“Yeah, and you’re gonna be in it.”

“Do I have a choice?” Phil asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Nope.”

Phil huffs a laugh but moves to sit down in the chair next to Dan anyway. Dan can see the transition into AmazingPhil as it happens.

“So you had something to tell me?”

“Yeah,” Dan breathes. He’s shaking again, and Phil picks up on it quickly.

“You’re freaking out, Dan,” Phil laughs nervously. “You’re not gonna propose again, are you?”

Dan huffs out a laugh.

“Uh. Not quite.” He grins up at the camera, knowing that information isn’t strictly public yet.

“Well?”

“So, uh. Louise sent me this link from the Battersea shelter.”

“Oh? Can I see?”

“Yeah, sure.” He pulls the ad up on his phone and Phil gasps.

“Corgi puppies?” Phil looks up at Dan with a shocked look on his face. “Oh my God, Dan! This is perfect! Can we get one?”

“Well, uh.” Dan swallows. “There’s some good news and some bad news.”

“Bad news first please,” Phil says quickly. Dan rolls his eyes. Phil is so predictable.

“Well, the bad news is that they’re all reserved.”

Phil’s face drops.

“What?” he whines. “But this would’ve been perfect!” he looks like he might be about to cry and for a second Dan nearly gives in the act. “My corgi puppy, your rescue dog? Bloody perfect.”

“Shut up, idiot, I’ve not told you the good news yet.”

Phil almost perks up but checks himself back, and it pulls at Dan’s heart to see him try not to get his hopes back up. He can’t hide his grin then.

“The good news is, one of them was reserved by me.”

Phil’s hands fly up to his face, and Dan can’t hold back the half-laugh, half-sob that pulls itself from his throat. Reaching past the strategically placed blanket, he picks up the puppy, who had somehow stayed where he’d been left.

“Oh my God,” Phil breathes. “Oh my God!” he lets out a laugh and then a sob of his own. “Oh my God, Dan. What the fuck?” a tear spills out from his eye. “It’s really ours?”

Dan’s crying too then, and he nods excitedly.

“Yeah,” he whispers, “This is our new little one.”

He gently passes the puppy to Phil, who settles it down in his lap.

“Is it a boy or a girl?”

“He’s a boy,” Dan says softly as he wipes his eye.

“Does he have a name yet?”

Dan shakes his head.

“I, uh. I wanted us to name him together.”

“Sap,” Phil says fondly as he starts stroking the puppy with one gentle hand. “You’re so soft,” he whispers. “Maybe we just call you Softie.”

Dan laughs.

“Well we need to let his personality come out first,” he says, reaching over to give the puppy a little scratch behind the ears.

They end up filming a full-length video, complete with Phil suggesting “Norman Two” as a name, and Dan rolling his eyes fondly.

“Hey Phil,” Dan says when they’re done. He’s let the puppy down on to the floor, and he’s quickly sniffing at Phil’s trouser leg, a paw coming up to pat at his foot. Phil manages to tear his eyes away from the little guy for a second to look up at Dan.

“Yeah?”

“Should I leave in the part where you mention I proposed?”

He knows Phil’s feelings on being out as a couple. He knows that this would mean concrete confirmation to the world that they’re together. Phil’s been ready for a long time, waiting patiently and unwaveringly for Dan. But this one final question tells Phil that Dan’s ready too. And the blinding grin Phil gives him is answer enough.

Dan really should’ve known that presenting Phil with his own corgi puppy would lead to zero productivity for the rest of the day. He had volunteered to make dinner that morning, but now that he was sat down with Puppy, as he was dubbed for now, he was immovable.

“Phil!” Dan calls from the kitchen. He doesn’t hear an answer so he pokes his head round the living room door.

“Shh!” Phil puts a finger to his lips before whispering, “he’s sleeping. What do you want?”

“You were gonna cook dinner?” Dan doesn’t lower his voice at all and Phil frowns, waggling his finger in front of his lips more aggressively.

“Can we just get a takeaway or something?” Phil pouts. “Look at him, if I get up now he’ll never forgive me.”

Dan wanders over and sure enough, Puppy is snuggled into Phil’s lap in a ball, gently snuffling while Phil gently strokes a hand over his back. Something in Dan aches seeing his giant, clumsy fiancé being more careful with this tiny creature than anything before in his life, and he thinks in this moment he’d probably give Phil anything. He’s only human, after all.

Sighing, Dan pulls Phil’s laptop up from the sofa cushion.

“Fine, but you’re paying.”

Phil even makes Dan open the door for the delivery guy, and he’s not impressed about that.

“Totally fair that I have to come pick up the pizza because the fiancé who wanted it is inside with a puppy in his lap, right?”

The delivery guy laughs a little, sympathetically, and Dan carries the pizza back through to the living room.

“Here you go, lazy boy,” Dan grumbles, dropping a pizza box down on the sofa next to Phil. Puppy immediately jumps up from his nap on Phil, staring at the box intently.

“Oh Dan, now look what you’ve done!”

“Put Puppy down while you eat, Phil,” Dan says, rolling his eyes. “We can’t teach him bad habits.”

Phil reluctantly lets Puppy down on the floor, but after a few minutes of paws batting at his leg, he leaves Dan’s side to settle on the carpet. Dan huffs a laugh but it’s not long before he’s doing the same. It’s only for one night, he tells himself. They can start teaching him the proper meal time rules tomorrow.

When Dan moves down off the sofa, Puppy is immediately watching him with interest, crawling slowly towards him. He lifts a hand to stroke him, but Puppy jumps back at the movement.

“Sorry little one, is it scary?” Dan asks gently, dropping his hand (which, on reflection, is massive) and letting Puppy sniff it himself. Puppy tentatively licks his finger, before jumping back again, letting out a tiny growl as he does so.

“Yeah, you tell him, Pup,” Phil grins, laughing as he bites into a slice of pizza. Puppy shuffles forward again, just as Dan is reaching over to his drink on the table and picking it up. Puppy yaps in surprise at the movement of the glass, which had been _still_ until now, and Dan giggles.

“Oh, now _that_ is really not supposed to happen, hey bub?” Dan laughs as he reaches out a free hand to Puppy, letting the dog sniff his hand before scratching behind his ears.

“Oh!” Phil says suddenly, mouth full of pizza. “Food for Puppy!”

“In the DINOF room,” Dan replies immediately. “You know, I thought the smell of dog food was gonna give it away, but you really didn’t have a fucking clue.”

“Maybe the DINOF room just always smells like that,” Phil replies, receiving a swat on the arm.

They make sure to give Puppy some food and set out a dish of water before they begin their evening routine, Dan answering the last couple of emails for his project, Phil working on his script. When Puppy begins to get insistent that he’d like to be on the sofa with them, Dan lifts him up and he settles between them happily. His head rests on Phil’s thigh and Dan melts.

“Gonna have to get another one now,” he jokes, “Clearly this one’s already picked a favourite.”

Phil rolls his eyes and they settle into comfortable silence, each reaching down every now and then to ruffle Puppy’s fur. At some point, they both reach out at the same time and end up interlocking their fingers in front of Puppy’s face, getting gentle licks every now and then.

It’s nearly one a.m. when they finally pack up for bed. Puppy has fallen asleep between them, snuffling softly. Dan smiles down, overwhelmingly fond already.

“He sounds like a little piglet,” he whispers, reaching out to gently run his fingers down his back.

“Maybe we should name him after a pig,” Phil suggests. “What’s the name of the pig in that book?”

“We’re not calling it Babe, Phil.”

“No, the other book,” Phil gestures a little wildly. “The spider one. Charlotte’s Web.”

“Oh!” Dan pauses. “Wilbur?”

“Wilbur!” Phil grins. “Don’t you think it’s perfect?”

Dan watches Puppy for a second, how he stretches in his sleep and makes a snuffly little growl.

“You know what? I think you’re right.”

They set up Wilbur’s bed in their room, with some water and a few toilet training pads surrounding it, and Dan reluctantly wakes him up to carry him upstairs. Wilbur settles into his new bed while they get ready for their own. Dan comes out of the bathroom with his freshly minted mouth and strips down to his boxers, sneaking a glance over at Wilbur. He’s curled in in a ball around a teddy, and Dan melts.

Phil makes his way out in some pyjama bottoms and smiles softly when he sees Dan. He walks over and wraps his arms around Dan’s waist, running his fingers through the happy trail on his stomach.

“Hey, you,” Dan murmurs, turning his head to press a kiss to the corner of Phil’s mouth.

“Hey,” Phil whispers. He presses a kiss to Dan’s neck in return. “Thank you so much, Dan. I love him. I love him _so much_.”

“Me too,” Dan whispers. “He’s perfect.”

“I can’t believe we’re corgi owners,” Phil grins. He leans down a little further to press a kiss to Dan’s shoulder. “I love you so much, babe.”

“Oh yeah?” Dan smirks. Phil continues peppering kisses across Dan’s bare shoulders, guiding him as best as he can towards the bed. Dan laughs loudly as Phil stumbles behind him and spins around, pulling Phil up. “Be careful, you oaf.” Phil takes the chance to shove Dan on the bed and continues his onslaught of kisses. Travelling down his stomach, Phil nips at the little bit of pudge below Dan’s belly button and Dan whines. He reaches a hand down into Phil’s hair and pushes a little. He can feel the rumble of laughter from Phil on his belly.

“Patience, love,” he grins. Dan tugs on Phil’s hair in protest and Phil pokes his side in return. He reaches two fingers into the sides of Dan’s boxers when he hears another whine. “God, Dan, calm down,” he laughs gently.

“Mm, Phil that wasn’t me,” Dan mumbles.

Phil glances around to find Wilbur’s bed empty and hears another whine. He peers over the side of the bed to find Wilbur with a corner of the duvet in his mouth, whining and growling away. He turns back to Dan, who is frowning and palming himself through his boxers. He reaches down to lift Wilbur and gives Dan a sheepish smile.

“We can’t just leave him, Dan,” Phil says, cuddling Wilbur close to his chin.

“Oh, but you can leave my blue balls, can you?” Dan deadpans. Phil pouts and rubs Dan’s thigh.

“Sorry, baby.”

Dan rolls his eyes.

“God, if I’d known getting you a puppy meant getting _myself_ off, I’d never have done it.”

Phil shakes his head, moving up the bed with Wilbur held tight to his chest, and presses a kiss to Dan’s pouted lips.

“You definitely still would’ve.”

“He’s not sleeping in our bed,” Dan grumbles. “Your massive clumsy limbs are gonna squash him.”

Phil frowns, pressing a kiss to Wilbur’s head before getting up and placing him in his bed across the room. When he’s back in his own bed he’s immediately on top of Dan, pressing kisses on his neck. When he pulls away, Dan raises an eyebrow at him.

“What’s that look for?” Phil says. “I thought you had some blue balls that needed tending to.”

“You’re absolutely shameless,” Dan says. “Go on then, show me what that mouth do.” They both make joke gagging noises, but Phil is quick to pick up where he left off.

When Dan wakes up the next morning, he stretches out across the bed, frowning when he finds it empty next to him. Slowly opening his eyes, he sees Phil, crouched down, furiously scrubbing at their cream rug with a washing up bowl of soap next to him.

“Mm, Phil, whadaya doin’?”

Phil glances over his shoulder, a panicked look in his eyes.

“Uh, nothing! Don’t get up yet! It’s not important!”

Dan is immediately pulled out of his daze and jumps out of bed. He peers over Phil’s shoulder, who leaps to cover the rug with his body, but not before Dan sees the small brown stain. He places a hand on Phil’s shoulder and sighs.

“I guess we’d better make house training a priority, huh?”

Phil turns around, looking somewhere between relieved and confused.

“You’re taking this a lot better than I thought you would. You love this rug.”

“What, you think I’m gonna kick Wilbur out the house because he shat on the rug one time?” Dan laughs. “Have you _seen_ him? He’s way too cute.”

Phil softens, standing up and pressing a kiss to Dan’s lips.

“True.” Another peck. “Morning, you.”

“Morning,” Dan hums, moving to the wardrobe to pull out a hoodie. “Coffee?”

“Please,” Phil calls, picking up the washing bowl.

Over coffee and cereal, Dan and Phil decide their plan for the day. Wilbur is up to date with his jabs and he’s ready to be taken out to socialise with other dogs. But before that, he needs some things. They get Wilbur ready in his grey collar and leash, which Dan looks down at pitifully.

“I’m sorry that this is hideous, Wilbur, I promise we’re gonna get you something better,” Dan says, tightening the collar a little. They call a taxi to take them to their nearest pet store and get looking.

Dan hands Wilbur to Phil after a few minutes and pulls out his phone to start filming.

“You suddenly back in the vlogging world, huh?” Phil says with a giggle. Dan shoves him playfully.

“It’s just nice to have record of the first time our boy went in a pet shop,” he says, filming Wilbur as he looks around, sniffing and growling at everything.

Phil gasps as they walk into the collar and leash section, grabbing Dan by the arm.

“ _Please_ , this is the perfect one, oh my God Dan,” he gushes, lifting the set from its hook. It’s purple, and dotted with little pigs. Dan opens his mouth to say something but Phil beats him to it. “Don’t you dare tell me it’s tacky, this was made for him and you know it.”

Dan sighs in resignation and looks down at Wilbur.

“To be fair, purple is probably his colour,” he says with a laugh. He lets Phil pick up a squeaky pig toy and a pig blanket before he vetoes anything else pig related.

Dan buys an extra retractable leash and some puppy treats. He picks up a couple of tennis balls and finally they take a leaflet about puppy training. The cashier at the till gushes over him over the counter until Dan picks him up and lets her have a fuss of him.

“You’re everyone’s favourite already, aren’t you bub?” he says as they wave goodbye and head back out to call their taxi home.

Dan spends the afternoon editing their footage over the last couple of days, getting ready for their reveal video. For something that wasn’t planned at all, he’s overwhelmingly pleased with how well it’s coming together. Phil is sat at the other end of their desk, Wilbur on his lap, watching video after video of how to effectively toilet train a puppy. They have a stash of puppy pads in the DINOF room, and Phil orders a pen to give Wilbur his safe area for overnight.

It’s not until the next day that Dan’s video is done and they’re ready to reveal their puppy to the world. He tried to keep the video as candid as he possibly could, and when they sit down with Wilbur in between them and Norman in the background, for an updated family Instagram photo, he tells Phil to leave his ring on. It’s strange, the way the decision to let the world know about their engagement was so quick and spontaneous. Maybe it’s that the only thing their fans want more than for them to get married is for them to get a dog. Or maybe it’s just time.

They take a few photos. A cheesy one for Instagram with them both smiling and Wilbur looking at the camera gleefully. Another holding Wilbur between them and kissing each of his cheeks, another of Dan pulling Phil in by his collar and pressing a kiss to his lips. Maybe they’ll get them framed on the wall or something.

When the video uploads, Dan posts the photo on Instagram, and they sit back and let the waterfall happen. Tweets come in quickly, ranging from “I WOULD DIE FOR YOU WILBUR” to “wait, you guys are engaged? WHAT” to “aw, what a happy family”. They really are. Sometimes, he thinks, a family is you and your fiancé, your fish, and your new puppy. And that’s okay.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! listen the need for dan to call a tiny puppy "little one" is very important content i hope you agree   
> i hope you enjoyed! comments are appreciated, come scream at me on tumblr @ panlesters


End file.
